Life Cycle Assessment of a PV System with Silicon Heterojunction modules

Abstract

As sustainable energy technologies continue to attract growing interest worldwide, comprehending their environmental implications becomes essential. Along with cost optimisation and enhancing efficiencies, it is equally important to reduce a wide range of environmental impacts, which is crucial for attaining global sustainability goals. Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) solar panels are one such example of a growing sustainable energy technology that are anticipated to take up a considerable share of the global PV market in the coming years, owing to its high achievable efficiency. The goal of this study was to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment on a PV system consisting of Silicon Heterojunction solar cells and modules in order to gain insights for the environmental impacts of such a PV system based on manufacturing in the Netherlands. The study included the production steps of SHJ cells and modules, from raw material to final product and use phase until end of life time. Recyling processes were not included. Inverters and mounting structures were also used to complete the PV system. 4 impact categories were analysed in this study for a rooftop PV system with SHJ cells in 2024. The results for these impact categories were: 22 g CO2-Eq/kWh for Climate Change; 14 g 1.4-DCB-eq/kWh for Ecotoxicity Freshwater; 17.5 g 1.4-DCB-eq/kWh for Ecotoxicity Marine and 0.0016 m2 crop − eq/kWh for Land Use. Similarly, the results for the future scenarios were also reported: Climate change impacts will reduce by more than 10 g CO2-Eq/kWh ; Ecotoxicity impacts will reduce by around 0.6 g 1.4-DCB eq/kWh and land use by 0.0006 m2 crop−eq/kWh over the course of a decade. Then, the contribution analyses were presented for these categories, representing the components and process steps that were major contributors to each of these categories. Finally, two sensitivity analyses were conducted, to see how the environmental impacts change by changing certain parameters. The results gathered in this study, and upon comparing them with the LCA results from earlier published studies showed that the SHJ cell and module manufacturing was more environment friendly than some of the other technologies, along with certain room for improvement. Improving the manufacturing processes and with a change in Dutch electricity mix, in the future scenarios, showed that the environmental impacts will further reduce, making this PV technology highly acceptable and implementable.